Technically, for an output to be "line level", it should be -10dBV as referenced against a 1 volt RMS sine wave, ie. it should be 0.1V RMS or 0.141V peak.

For professional gear, "line level" is nominally +4dBU as referenced against a 0.775 volt RMS sine wave, or 1.228 V RMS.

In practice, very few items of consumer equipment follow this standard, and it's hardly uncommon for professional gear to to ignore it too.

As a result, it's common practice to design input stages to be able to handle up to 5V RMS, just to be sure.

Ghianni

9th October 2008 08:34 AM

Well, there is an IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) standard under "Publication 268-15" which states that the Line output would have a Normal working output voltage of 1.95Vrms (+8 dB ref 0.775Vrms). May be a new revision exists of this Publication.

kevinkr

9th October 2008 06:19 PM

Philips/Sony Redbook (supposedly?) stipulates a level of 2Vrms for 0dBFS, and this has become the defacto standard for consumer digital electronics (non portable electronics) in most markets.

The output voltage is stipulated somewhere in this document, (IIRC) unfortunately I have not been able to find an excerpt on line that actually shows this.

Frank Berry

9th October 2008 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kevinkr Philips/Sony Redbook (supposedly?) stipulates a level of 2Vrms for 0dBFS, and this has become the defacto standard for consumer digital electronics (non portable electronics) in most markets.